Do Now: What differences do you see between the Victorian woman on the left and the “flapper” on the right? What might that signify about the 1920s?
Racial tensions intolerance Fear and prejudice towards Germans and Communists spread to all immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti Italian immigrants, anarchists, accused of murder in Boston Sentenced to death, sparked worldwide outcry against unfair trial 1. Nativism
Eugenics – pseudoscience, improving genetics “superiority of the original American” Ku Klux Klan – 4 million by , continued
Emergency Quota Act – discriminated against people from southern and eastern Europe National Origins Act of 1924 – northwestern Europe accounted for 87% of total immigration quota Exempted natives from Western Hemisphere because we needed farm labor from Mexico 2. Controlling Immigration
18 th Amendment – January 1920 Volstead Act passed in order to enforce prohibition: Expanded police powers for federal gov’t Americans ignored the law increase in organized crime Bootlegging Speakeasies Smuggling from Canada and Caribbean Al Capone and other gangsters in major cities around the U.S. 3. Prohibition
Fundamentalism – religious movement fighting against “moral decline”… believed Bible is literally true Darwin’s theory of evolution is false. Creationism, God created world, is true. 4. Fundamentalism
Scopes Trial Tennessee outlawed teaching of evolution with Butler Act (1925) ACLU sponsored John Scopes, biology teacher to teach evolution arrested and put on trial William Jennings Bryan represented creationists, Clarence Darrow represented Scopes Scopes lost, but technicality overturned decision later. Public followed the trial… popular opinion led to fundamentalists losing support 4., cont.
Glorified youth and personal freedom Consumer culture Women attend college, earn wages, express themselves with new fashions 5. New Morality
Flapper – stylish woman who went against convention 5., continued Vs. Alice Joyce Norma Talmadge Marion Davies